Silver Still Strong, But Livelier Hues Lead Change -- 2004 DuPont Automotive Color Popularity Report Indicates Car Buyers 'Yearn For Color'
TROY, Mich., Dec. 9, 2004 -- A color coup has yet to topple silver's crown, but a yearning for new and expressive vehicle exterior colors is clearly gaining force -- a trend that experts say will increase in the coming years.
The newly released 2004 DuPont Automotive Color Popularity Report traces the rise of chromatic shades in North America. For example, light metallic brown and blue each have captured double-digit percentages of the overall vehicle market, and yellow looks hot on the right vehicles while red is on the rise again.
In its 52nd year, the DuPont Automotive report is the industry's authoritative baseline for analyzing and predicting vehicle color trends by vehicle model type and overall by world region. DuPont is the world's leading supplier of color coatings to the automotive industry. In the United States, DuPont coatings are featured on eight of the top-10 selling vehicles.
A Convincing Case for Color
Karen Surcina, color programs manager for DuPont Automotive Systems, the automotive OEM unit of DuPont Performance Coatings, works with a DuPont designer in Europe to help automakers stay ahead of the color curve.
"We see the desire for color mirrored in the worlds of fashion and home furnishings," said Surcina. "Yet, our research in small focus groups indicates what people prefer isn't always what they buy when it comes to cars and trucks. Some buyers may rein in their expressive side and choose mainstream colors based on their perceived impact upon vehicle resale," she said.
"In others, we see more of a 'notice me' effect in the choice of brighter colors -- people are becoming more optimistic, they're proud of their new car and want to be seen," Surcina said.
Not surprisingly, yellow appeals to the high-visibility contingent. "Yellow has moved into the Top 10 in North America for the first time since 1992," Surcina said. "Yellow really works for the smaller SUV classes as well as for compact cars and certain sports cars."
Don't pin the "color conservative" tag exclusively on big-ticket buyers, however. In the North American luxury car segment, which has lost a bit of market share to SUVs since 2003, light brown metallic grew dramatically in popularity over the past year -- from 4 percent in 2003 to 11 percent, while both red and blue doubled in popularity. Silver and gray have begun to decline as the leading colors, but various shades of white, including dramatic, pearlescent tri-coat finishes, remain strong.
This is doubly significant because the luxury segment often presages trends across all vehicle segments. Red has already started to grow in popularity in the intermediate/full-size market segment.
Fleet buyers particularly tend to look at the business case, and data from automotive analysts at the Power Information Network (formerly a J. D. Power company) indicate the right color choices can improve a car's resale value.
Trucks have long been dominated by plain white coatings, in part because of the impact of commercial fleet and construction buyers. But here, too, color is making remarkable inroads -- particularly in the brown and blue families. Some truck buyers are clearly asking themselves, "what can brown do for me?"
In the light truck, van and SUV category, light brown metallic gained four percentage points of market share, to 9 percent, while blue climbed three points to hold 12 percent of the market. White lost a couple of points, but still leads at 20 percent, with silver also slipping slightly in second, at 16 percent.
Color Families Begin to Cross-over
So what's left for silver? Technology rides to the rescue with tints that can transform the color so that it offers added visual interest.
"This means that color will emerge even from the neutrals such as warm and cool tints in silver and gray for a fresh, new appearance," said Surcina.
That factor also leads to another trend -- the cross-over of color families. One person's blue is another person's green. With the advent of subtle color-shifting technologies in basecoats, which appear to change tint when viewed from various angles, it can be hard to pin down a vehicle's exact color. The new silver can appear blue or even purple.
In DuPont automotive color trend shows in Europe, Surcina's coatings design colleague, Sandra Krueger, is showing the effects of cross-over colors even in strong colors such as red.
"This new hunger for color is mirrored in the worlds of fashion and decor," said Leatrice Eiseman, an author and member of the Color Marketing Group, a not-for-profit association of color designers.
"People are looking to express their individuality," said Eiseman, whose Color Answer Book (Capital Books, Sterling, Va.) includes a section on car colors. "We are seeing new tones that are in between red and orange, such as Briar -- a natural interpretation of red -- that's straight off European high- fashion runways, moving into automotive interiors and exteriors. That's one reason we are so excited about what's happening in car interiors, where the use of color is starting to rival the vehicle's exterior.
"People use color to express their personality," said Eiseman, who is a director of the Pantone Color Institute and recently was named one of the top style-makers in the United States (just behind fashion icon Ralph Lauren) by HFN, the home furnishings magazine. "Even white, which is re-invented with the addition of pearlescent effects, is breaking out to become, perhaps, an expression of urban glamour."
2004 DuPont Automotive Color Trends at a Glance
* The big jump in the American luxury market is light metallic brown. Silver and gray have lost some of their ground as the leaders to reds and blues that have doubled in popularity from a year ago, each now at the 9 percent level.
* In the North American truck, SUV and mini-van segment, which is stealing overall share from the luxury car market as people move into "loaded" trucks and upscale sport utilities from Lincoln, Cadillac, Lexus, Mercedes and Porsche; elegant blues, nature-oriented light browns and clean reds are winning at the expense of silver and gray.
* After its dramatic rise last year, silver has slipped slightly in the U.S. compact/sport market. Yellow has almost doubled in popularity but 4 percent remains a niche color best suited to specific vehicles.
* The "play it safe" strategy of selecting a vehicle color based on reliably popular colors such as silver and white may not always be the safe approach at all when it comes to resale value, according to recent analysis by Power Information Network. Used vehicle prices follow the laws of supply and demand. Even the most popular color will depress resale price if it is oversupplied.
Popularity by Region
North America: Overall, silver dropped slightly but remains the top vehicle color in North America at 18 percent, with white a strong second at 16 percent, unchanged in 2004. Black remained a popular choice but was joined in a three-way tie at 11 percent by light brown, which has been revitalized with soft metallic effects, and the blue color family.
Europe: Silver still leads the pack despite a small decline. The drop in gray is more dramatic in luxury/upper models, slipping from 14 percent to 10 percent. The clear winner is red, which doubled its popularity in this sector, where subdued shades are traditionally preferred. Darker brown crept in, ousting its lighter counterpart. In the diverse Van/MPV/Transporter sector, silver and gray rocketed from 22 percent to 34 percent, with white dropping by more than half due to currently unfavorable white resale conditions.
South America: As in other regions of the world, the rise of silver seems to have stopped. Although still preeminent, silver has slipped from 33 percent in 2003 to 31 percent. Still, neutral or achromatic colors (silver, gray, white and black) represent fully 77 percent of South American color preferences, which is significantly higher than the global average of 66 percent.
Japan: Neutrals dominate the Japanese market. Silver and gray now represent 43 percent of the car market and together, all neutral colors represent more than 80 percent. The only chroma color of any consequence is blue, which has remained stable at 9 percent.
Illustrating the importance of the Japanese auto sector, both in terms of domestic sales and exports, DuPont recently announced it would open a new $10- million laboratory in that country's Aichi Prefecture in 2005. The lab will facilitate technical approvals for new automotive coatings technology and colors used by Japanese auto manufacturers worldwide and to support their home country assembly operations.
"This new laboratory supplements the extensive network of DuPont technical facilities located in the Americas, Asia and Europe that serve our growing coatings business with Japanese auto manufacturers," said Marty M. McQuade, vice president and general manager for DuPont Automotive Systems.
Global Trends: Silver, a value color, will be refreshed with warm reds, light brown and cool color tints in green or blue. This trend also will take silver into new color areas where cross-over colors appear, such as grayish blue and green metallics. These cross-over colors will make the frontiers of a given color family less distinct and add interest to modern vehicle designs.
Gray, a major component of the neutrals, has potential with the addition of color, such as a purple-gray, that exudes elegance. Higher chroma content blue maintains its strong popularity level in Europe and also has potential for the Americas. Green, which has fallen from its high in 1998, could be a renaissance color in Europe, especially in cross-over hues for neutrals and blues that can go toward turquoise or teal. Red and yellow are "notice me" colors and provide a distinctive, differentiated statement for certain vehicle types. Red is strengthening in the Americas as a mainstream color, and, yellow, even if still a niche color, really stands out on cross-over SUVs and sport and compact models.
DuPont is a science company. Founded in 1802, DuPont puts science to work by creating sustainable solutions essential to a better, safer, healthier life for people everywhere. Operating in more than 70 countries, DuPont offers a wide range of innovative products and services for markets including agriculture, nutrition, electronics, communications, safety and protection, home and construction, transportation and apparel.
What Your Car Color Says About You
Your car may be talking about you behind your back. Based on the DuPont Automotive rankings of most popular automotive colors in North America, here's what Car Answer Book author Leatrice Eiseman says vehicles are revealing about their owners' personalities:
Silver: Elegant, loves futuristic looks, cool
White: Fastidious
Vibrant Red: Sexy, speedy, high-energy and dynamic
Deep Blue-Red: Some of the same qualities as red, but far less obvious
about it
Light to Mid-Blue: Cool, calm, faithful, quiet
Dark Blue: Credible, confident, dependable
Taupe/Light Brown: Timeless, basic and simple tastes
Black: Empowered, not easily manipulated, loves elegance, appreciates
classics
Neutral Gray: Sober, corporate, practical, pragmatic
Dark Green: Traditional, trustworthy, well-balanced
Bright Yellow-Green: Trendy, whimsical, lively
Yellow Gold: Intelligent, warm, loves comfort and will pay for it
Sunshine Yellow: Sunny disposition, joyful and young at heart
Deep Brown: Down-to-earth, no-nonsense
Orange: Fun loving, talkative, fickle and trendy
Deep Purple: Creative, individualistic, original
2004 DUPONT AUTOMOTIVE
COLOR POPULARITY SURVEY RESULTS
Percentages are rounded by main color families relative to vehicles manufactured during the 2004 model year in North America. Market percents of sales for 2004 are provided by Ward's Communications.
Luxury (6.3% of market) Full/Intermediate (22.1% of market)
2004 2003 2004 2003
Total 100 Total 100
1. Silver and Gray 26 41 1. Silver 24 25
2. White Pearl 17 18 2. Lt. Brown 17 16
3. White 12 13 3. Red 12 9
4. Black 12 11 4. White 13 12
5. Light Brown 11 <1 5. Med./Dk. Grey 11 13
6. Red 9 4 6. Black 9 9
7. Blue 9 4 7. Blue 6 6
8. Yellow/Gold 4 4 8. Green 5 5
9. Others <1 4 9. Yellow/Gold 1 2
10. Others 2 3
Sport/Compact (18.4% of market) SUV/Truck/Van (53.2% of market)
2004 2003 2004 2003
Total 100 Total 100
1. Silver 20 20 1. White/WhitePearl 20 22
2. Red 17 16 2. Silver 16 17
3. Black 13 14 3. Red 14 16
4. Blue 13 14 4. Black 12 12
5. Lt. Brown 9 8 5. Blue 12 9
6. White 9 9 6. Med./Dk. Grey 10 9
7. Med./Dk. Grey 8 12 7. Light Brown 9 6
8. Green 4 -- 8. Green 5 7
9. Yellow 4 3 9. Yellow/Gold 1 --
10. Others 3 4 10. Others 1 2
2004 DUPONT AUTOMOTIVE
INTERNATIONAL COLOR POPULARITY SURVEY RESULTS
Numbers reflect percentage of vehicles manufactured during the 2004 model year in North America, South America, Europe and Asia
North America Europe
2004 2003 2004 2003
Total 100 Total 100
1. Silver 18 20 1. Silver 30 31
2. White/Wht. Pearl 16 15 2. Black 17 19
3. Red 14 10 3. Blue 16 14
4. Blue 11 11 4. Gray 11 10
5. Lt. Brown 11 8 5. White/Wht. Pearl 8 10
6. Black 11 11 6. Red 7 7
7. Med./Dk. Gray 10 11 7. Brown 6 --
8. Green 5 5 8. Green 3 5
9. Yellow/Gold 2 <1 9. Yellow/Gold 1 1
10. Others 2 <1 10. Others 1 --
South America (Brazil) Asia (Japan)*
2004 2003 2004 2003
Total 100 Total 100
1. Silver 31 33 1. Silver/Gray 37 33
2. White 16 17 2. White 16 27
3. Gray 15 16 3. Blue 13 10
4. Black 15 10 4. Black 13 10
5. Red 8 9 5. Red 9 6
6. Blue 7 8 6. Green 4 5
7. Beige 4 3 7. Light Brown 2 3
8. Green 3 3 8. Yellow/Gold 1 --
9. Yellow 1 .2 9. Others 5 --
* White: includes off-white
Gray: includes Silver Metallic
Red: includes Pink, Purple and Violet
Green: includes Bluish Green and Olive
Blue: includes Turquoise